The invention relates to a bulk silo with centrally located aerated mixing or homogenizing chamber whose wall contains a plurality of constantly open passage openings for the material from the main silo area and which is connected to an inspection area.
It is known in a silo of the named type (DE-AS No. 27 27 499) that the operational safety in the case of sensitive material which tends to interruptions of flow can be improved by building a ring-shaped observation walk around the chamber, that is, within the main silo area, whose wall contains inspection openings for observing both the passage openings and the empty chamber bottom. However, such a walk is extremely expensive, because its length is as long as the circumference of the chamber, its wall must be dimensioned to withstand the pressure prevailing in the main silo area and because an access passage must be created from the outside to the walk.
It is also known ( DE-AS No. 21 33 189) that a discharge passage running from the silo center to the silo circumference can be connected to a separate observation passage which contains inspection openings to the discharge passage and is accessible from the outside in such a manner that the observation passage accompanies the discharge passage over its entire length. This arrangement can not be used if a central discharge chamber is provided in the silo; it corresponds, however, to the previously explained arrangement for a central chamber in which a passage runs from the outside to the chamber circumference, which is surrounded over its entire length by an observation walk. It is particularly also not apparent therefrom how the expense of inspecting a silo with a central discharge chamber could be reduced.
Another disadvantage of the known arrangements is the fact that during operation an observation is possible only to a limited extent, while servicing is not possible at all. For servicing, the silo discharge must be stopped and the chamber emptied.
The invention has the task of creating a bulk silo of the type initially cited which makes possible for a better observation and a better servicing of the chamber and of the associated emptying device at a low cost.